UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA 

COLLEGE    OF    AGRICULTURE 

AGRICULTURAL   EXPERIMENT  STATION 

CIRCULAR  No.  221 
August,  1920 

HOW  CALIFORNIA  IS  HELPING  PEOPLE  OWN  FARMS 
AND  RURAL  HOMES 

By  ELWOOD  MEAD 


FOREWORD 

In  1899  Edward  F.  Adams,  writing  about  California  agriculture, 
expressed  the  opinion  that  "the  present  generation  has  the  means 
to  produce  comfortable  sustenance  for  all."1  No  one  questioned  the 
truth  of  this  statement  when  it  was  written,  but  in  1920  all  agricul- 
tural journals  point  out  that  this  nation  is  faced  with  a  shortage  of 
food  and  how  to  obtain  three  square  meals  a  day  is  becoming  a  vital 
problem. 

The  main  reasons  for  this  are  the  high  wages  and  easy  conditions 
of  labor  in  cities  and  the  obstacles  which  high  land  prices  and  high 
rents  present  to  men  who  seek  to  become  farm  owners.  When  Henry 
Ford  made  $5.00  a  day  the  minimum  wage  of  unskilled  workers  in 
his  factory,  he  started  a  competition  for  labor  that  the  farmer  could 
not  meet.  The  results  in  Michigan  are  seen  in  19,000  idle  farms  and 
10,000  empty  farm  houses. 

No  more  important  problem  confronts  this  country  than  that  of 
bringing  this  lost  labor  back  to  the  land.  California  is  seeking  to 
secure  this  result  by  helping  tenant  farmers  become  owners  and  creat- 
ing a  more  attractive  rural  life  for  all  who  live  there. 

From  five  to  fifty  letters  of  inquiry,  about  the  State  Land  Settle- 
ment Act,  come  each  day  to  the  board's  office  at  the  State  University. 
Most  of  these  inquiries  come  from  people  who  want  to  buy  farms. 
Others  come  from  people  interested  in  rural  progress.  They  seek  to 
know  why  this  act  was  passed  and  what  have  been  the  results  of 
its  operation. 

The  Land  Settlement  Board  has  no  funds  to  use  for  educational 
purposes  or  extension  work  and  answering  these  letters  adequately 
costs  something.  It  is  one  of  the  board's  problems.  Its  business  is 
to  buy,  subdivide  and  sell  land  to  actual  settlers  at  cost.    Every  dollar 

i  The  Modern  Farmer,  p.  22. 


2  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

provided  by  the  state  has  to  be  returned  within  50  years  with  4% 
interest.  The  people  who  buy  farms  have  to  pay  all  the  bills  the  board 
incurs. 

It  is  highly  important,  however,  that  a  knowledge  of  the  social 
and  economic  benefits  of  the  policy  which  this  act  embodies  be  widely 
diffused.  State  aid  in  California,  although  scarcely  begun,  is  broad- 
ening the  road  to  farm  ownership  and  has  lessened  tenantry.  It 
enables  families  to  live  in  better  houses,  use  better  implements,  own 
better  livestock,  and  have  a  more  attractive  social  life.  Through  it, 
a  new  and  better  rural  civilization  is  being  created. 

The  College  of  Agriculture,  through  this  publication,  shows  how 
these  results  have  been  attained  and  why  this  policy  is  needed  to 
round  out  and  complete  the  state's  training  in  agriculture,  to  keep 
Americans  on  the  land  and  to  help  lessen  the  cost  of  food. 


WHY   AID    IN    LAND    SETTLEMENT    IS    A    STATE    POLICY 

1.     Helping  Landless  Men  Own  Farms  Gives  Added  Political  and  Social 

Strength  to  the  State 

Until  about  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  century  free  or  very  cheap 
land  was  the  economic  foundation  of  this  nation's  democracy.  "A 
free  homestead  of  160  acres,"  said  Frederick  Howe,  "was  a  mirage 
of  hope.  It  was  the  voice  of  opportunity  calling  to  the  pioneer. '  '2  It 
formed  one  of  the  strongest  political  ties  binding  widely  separated 
peoples  together.  It  influenced  the  scale  of  wages  for  all  workers. 
Men  who  did  not  feel  content  as  wage  earners  became  their  own 
employers  on  a  homestead.  It  fostered  the  hopeful,  confident,  and 
independent  spirit  of  the  people. 

When  the  free  fertile  land  was  taken  up,  farms  began  to  rise 
rapidly  in  price.  '  Twenty  years  ago  good  irrigated  or  irrigable  laud 
could  be  bought  in  the  Sacramento  and  Imperial  Valleys  for  from 
$20  to  $50  an  acre.  That  same  land  now  sells  for  from  $100  to  $500 
an  acre.  The  money  which  would  have  bought  a  farm  twenty  years 
ago  is  now  absorbed  in  the  first  payment. 

The  cost  of  farm  improvements  has  risen  with  land  prices.  To 
prepare  land  for  alfalfa  costs  more  than  double  what  it  did  five  years 
ago.  To  plant  and  bring  an  acre  of  fruit  or  vines  to  the  bearing  age 
requires  an  outlay  of  money  that  no  one  would  have  risked  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  A  water  right  often  costs  more  than  the  former 
price  of  both  land  and  water. 


2  Privilege  and  Democracy,  p.  15. 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS  AND  RURAL  HOMES  3 

So  long  as  homesteads  were  free,  capital  to  buy  a  farm  was  not 
needed.  Many  of  the  last  generation  of  farmers  started  with  nothing 
and  because  of  this  there  grew  up  a  mistaken  idea  that  lack  of  money 
was  not  a  serious  obstacle  to  buying  a  farm.  This  delusion  has  about 
run  its  course ;  both  land  buyers  and  land  sellers  are  now  wiser.  In 
the  latest  land  subdivisions  of  California,  from  one-fourth  to  one-half 


Fig.  1. — The  Community  Center,  Durham.  (1)  Field  sports;  (2)  swimming 
pool;  (3)  tennis  courts;  (4)  school;  (5)  community  hall;  (6)  stock  show  building 
and  sheds;  (7)  automobile  camping  grounds;  (8)  experimental  gardens;  (9) 
open-air  auditorium;    (10)   greenhouses. 

of  the  purchase  price  has  to  be  paid  in  cash.     This  is  sound,  safe 
business.     It  protects  both  farm  buyer  and  land  owner.3 

3  The  rapid  rise  in  the  price  of  farm  lands  in  the  middle  west,  which  has  taken 
place  in  recent  years,  is  causing  many  farmers  to  sell  and  look  for  homes  in  Cali- 
fornia. They  have  ample  capital,  are  good  farmers,  and  bring  to  the  state  a  new 
and  valuable  factor  in  its  rural  progress.  The  prices  being  paid  for  farms,  and 
the  initial  payments  made,  show  that  agriculture  is  becoming  a  capitalized  industry. 
Purchases  aggregating  a  quarter  of  a  million  dollars  and  cash  payments  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  are  not  uncommon. 

Eighteen  farms  advertised  for  sale  in  a  San  Francisco  paper  of  June  27  varied 
in  area  from  45  to  1059  acres.  Their  cost  varied  from  $15,000  to  $343,000  and 
the  first  payments  from  $3225  to  $79,500.  To  these  costs  there  has  to  be  added 
the  outlay  for  improvements  and  equipment.  In  every  case  the  cost  of  equipment 
will  run  into  thousands  of  dollars,  for  these  high  priced  lands  must  be  well  culti- 
vated to  pay. 


4  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

Something  more  than  this  is  needed.  The  landless  poor  man  and 
the  tenant  farmer  must  be  given  a  chance  to  own  farms  if  we  are  to 
keep  the  right  kind  of  boys  and  girls  on  the  land.  Something  is 
needed  which  will  do  for  economic  democracy  what  was  formerly 
achieved  by  the  free  homestead.  Free  land  is  not  possible,  but  a 
generous  system  of  credit  and  organized  community  life  with  coopera- 
tion as  a  cornerstone  and  with  practical  advice  and  encouragement  for 
those  who  need  it,  will  provide  all  the  opportunity  needed  for  those 
willing  to  work  and  save.  Under  such  a  plan  young  men  and  women 
who  have  a  little  capital  can  start  life  on  farms  of  their  own  and  have 
a  life-time  in  which  to  pay  for  them.  It  will  rescue  the  tenant  farmer 
from  having  to  spend  his  life  farming  the  land  someone  else  owns. 
Such  a  credit  system  makes  the  time  of  paying  for  a  farm  long  enough 
to  permit  the  money  being  earned  out  of  crops.  Settlers  can  go 
ahead  with  improvements  because  the  tenure  is  secure  and  the  small 
payments  are  no  more  burdensome  than  rent  would  be.  If,  with  this 
credit,  there  is  created  an  organized  community  life,  it  will  mean  a 
higher  rural  civilization  than  can  come  from  unplanned  development. 
Such  state  aid  is  now  provided  in  many  civilized  countries.  It  is  the 
basis  of  rural  development  in  Australia  and  New  Zealand  and  is  the 
most  valuable  agrarian  reform  of  recent  times  in  Holland,  Denmark, 
Germany,  France  and  Great  Britain.  In  all  these  countries  this  aid 
has  averted  a  complete  agricultural  breakdown. 

At  first,  the  laws  of  these  countries  differed  quite  widely  in  details. 
Now  they  are  much  alike.  All  agree  in  giving  from  40  to  80  years' 
time  in  which  to  complete  paying  for  farms.  In  all,  the  interest  rate 
is  low,  varying  from  2y2%  to  5%.  In  nearly  all,  the  aim  is  to  buy 
enough  land  to  create  an  organized  community  of  100  or  more 
families. 

Some  adequate  system  of  advice  and  credit  is  needed  to  enable 
worthy  landless  people  with  little  money  to  become  farm  owners,  and, 
in  this  way,  avert  the  growing  dangers  and  evils  of  tenantry.  From 
being  a  nation  of  farm  owners,  we  are  rapidly  becoming  a  nation  of 
tenant  cultivators.  Half  of  the  land  in  some  of  the  richest  agricultural 
states  is  now  farmed  by  tenants.  As  a  rule,  the  leases  are  short,  most 
of  the  tenants  remaining  only  one  or  two  years  on  a  single  farm.  In 
this,  and  in  other  particulars,  the  conditions  of  these  tenants  are  worse 
than  they  are  in  European  countries  because  law  and  custom  has  not 
thrown  the  safeguards  around  tenantry  in  the  United  States  that  they 
have  where  it  is  an  older  institution. 

But  in  these  older  countries,  the  peasant  farmer  has  revolted 
against  tenantry.     He  insists  on  ownership  or  a  tenure  equivalent  to 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL  HOMES  5 

ownership.  In  order  to  allay  this  unrest  and  hold  people  on  the  land, 
Great  Britain  has  spent  over  $500,000,000  in  helping  the  Irish  peasant 
to  become  a  farm  owner.  Germany  spent  $400,000,000  between  1906 
and  1914  in  helping  men  become  farm  owners.  In  1900,  about  90% 
of  the  land  of  Denmark  was  farmed  by  discouraged  tenants.  In  1920, 
90%  of  it  is  farmed  by  enthusiastic  and  patriotic  owners.  The  Credit 
Foncier  made  France  a  nation  of  farm  owners.  The  Land  Purchase 
Act  of  Ireland  has  put  owners  on  nine  million  acres  of  land. 


2.  It  Helps  to  Bring  Badly  Farmed  Lands  Under  Intense  Culture  and 

Lessens  the  Cost  of  Living 

California  has  great  areas  of  thinly  peopled  land4  used  only  for 
grain  growing  or  pasture.  If  irrigated  and  seeded  to  alfalfa  or 
planted  to  trees  or  vines,  it  would  support  a  dense  population.  The 
greatest  need  of  California  is  to  have  these  great  estates  cut  up  into 
small  farms  each  one  cultivated  by  an  intelligent  American  family. 
An  ample  home  grown  food  supply  is  an  economic  need  for  the  rapidly 
growing  cities  and  a  strong  patriotic  rural  population  a  political  need 
of  the  state  which  is  the  frontier  of  the  white  man's  world.  The  first 
state  settlement  put  fifty  families  where  one  lived  before.  The  second 
will  put  400  home  owners  where  one  lived  when  the  land  was  pur- 
chased. 

3.  The  Planned  Rural  Community  Has  a  Better  Social  and  Economic  Life 

than  the  unplanned  one 

The  rural  community  of  the  future  will  be  organized.  The  people 
who  live  in  it  will  cooperate  in  buying  and  selling  and  in  doing  many 
things  that  foster  their  general  welfare.  A  rural  neighborhood  where 
every  man  looks  out  for  himself,  where  there  is  no  team  work  and 
where  selfishness  and  sharp  practices  abound,  has  little  to  attract 
the  kind  of  people  rural  society  needs.  Such  neighborhoods  are  all 
too  common  where  men  of  widely  separated  nations  and  racial  habits 
are  thrown  together  as  they  are  in  many  parts  of  California. 

Cooperation  is  a  fundamental  fact  in  the  California  State  Settle- 
ments. No  one  was  placed  upon  a  farm  in  the  Durham  Settlement 
who  did  not  want  to  become  a  member  of  the  Stock  Breeders'  Associa- 
tion. Only  those  who  desire  to  become  members  of  the  Cooperative 
Association  will  be  approved  as  settlers  at  Delhi.  Such  action  is 
needed  in  California  if  anything  like  neighborhood  unity  is  to  be 
secured.    How  far  we  are  from  it  now  is  shown  by  the  reports  of  the 

*  In  Kern  County,  four  companies  own  over  one  million  acres.  The  heirs  of 
Henry  Miller  own  800,000  acres  and  in  1916,  310  land  owners  owned  over  four 
million  acres  of  agricultural  land  in  the  state. 


b  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

State  Immigration  and  Housing  Commission.  Every  citizen  of  the 
state  ought  to  read  the  reports  of  its  surveys  and  there  ought  to  be 
more  of  such  reports.  Here  is  one  example  of  how  Los  Angeles  County 
is  being  Americanized.  "This  district  has  two  isolated  foreign  colo- 
nies. In  one,  live  Mexicans  who  own  their  own  homes,  but  who  live 
very  much  to  themselves ;  where  no  English  is  heard  except  in  the 
schoolroom.  In  the  other  section,  down  in  the  hollow,  live  100  or  so 
Russian  Molokans  where,  because  of  religious  convictions,  it  is  difficult 
to  penetrate/'5 

Fresno  County  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  farming  sections  of 
the  state  but  even  there  little  progress  has  been  made  in  bringing 
different  nationalities  to  work  and  act  together.  The  Housing  Com- 
mission found  that  "in  two  schools,  in  more  than  90  per  cent  of  the 
homes,  a  foreign  language  is  spoken.  Fifty  per  cent  of  the  families 
in  five  schools  do  not  use  English. '  '6 

Left  alone  as  these  people  have  been,  they  retain  the  anti-social 
traits  they  brought  from  other  countries.  "Barriers  of  speech,  educa- 
tion, and  religious  faith  split  the  people  into  unsympathetic,  even 
hostile  camps.  The  worst  element  in  the  community  makes  use  of 
the  ignorance  and  venality  of  the  foreign-born  voters  to  exclude  the 
better  citizens  from  any  share  in  the  control  of  local  affairs.  In  this 
babel  no  newspaper  becomes  strong  enough  to  mold  and  lead  public 
opinion. '  '7  To  achieve  success,  they  adopt  methods  foreign  to  Ameri- 
can ideals  and  character  and  this  stirs  up  strife  and  racial  antagonisms. 

The  contrast  between  these  conditions  and  the  social  fabric  created 
or  being  created  at  Durham  is  most  instructive.  People  who  did  not 
want  to  cooperate  stayed  away  from  the  settlement.  The  families 
who  are  there  soon  lost  their  racial  aloofness  in  the  conferences  of 
the  Stock  Breeders'  Association,  in  the  cooperative  buying  of  cows 
and  pigs,  in  the  sale  of  all  the  milk  of  the  settlers  under  a  community 
label,  in  the  effort  to  stamp  out  and  keep  out  disease.  These  com- 
munity activities  made  the  settlers  forget  that  they  were  of  Irish, 
German,  French,  Scotch,  Danish,  Norwegian,  English,  Italian,  Chilean 
or  American  ancestry.  It  has  done  even  better  service  in  breaking 
up  the  caste  layer  that  in  too  many  neighborhoods  separates  the  farm 
owner  from  the  farm  worker.  Families  of  farm  laborers  and  farmers 
mingle  in  the  community  dances.  Their  children  ride  to  school  in 
the  same  bus.  They  all  help  plan  and  take  part  in  the  social  activities 
at  the  community  park.     This  mingling  with  his  fellowmen  has  made 


5  A  Community  Survey,  p.  14. 

6  Fresno's  Immigration  Problems,  p.  14. 

7  The  Old  World  in  the  New,  E.  A.  Ross,  p.  229. 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL  HOMES 


Fig.  2. — Clearing  a  farm  laborer 's  block. 


Fig.  3. — Block  when  cleared. 


8  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

a  good  American  out  of  Domingo  Galves,  a  Chilean,  who  before  that 
had  drifted  over  the  country  with  no  social  ties  or  political  ideals. 
He,  along  with  all  the  settlers,  loves  California  for  its  interest  in  their 
daily  life,  for  what  it  has  done  for  them.  It  is  bringing  back  the 
economic  democracy  which  went  with  free  land.  University  gradu- 
ates own  farm  laborers '  blocks  in  both  settlements.  They  do  all  kinds 
of  farm  work.  They  are  the  best  answers  to  the  often  made  but  mis- 
taken statement  that  Americans  will  no  longer  do  hard  work.  They 
and  their  families  will  do  farm  work  if  it  does  not  involve  implied 
social  inferiority. 

Prof.  Koss  in  "The  Old  World  in  the  New"  calls  attention  to  the 
fact  that  Americans  had  been  driven  out  of  many  farm  industries  in 
California  through  farm  owners  bringing  into  the  country  people  of 
a  lower  standard  of  living  and  of  lower  moral  tone.  Good  people  were 
driven  out  by  cheaper  people  just  as  bad  money  drives  out  good 
money.  If  this  policy  of  securing  farm  help  wherever  it  can  be  had 
is  to  continue,  then  we  must  have  some  organized  effort  to  lift  these 
people  up  to  American  standards  of  life  and  of  living  and  to  endeavor 
to  instill  in  them  some  of  the  ideals  that  have  made  this  country  what 
it  is.  From  the  landing  of  the  first  settlers  at  Plymouth  Rock  and 
in  Virginia,  the  people  who  made  this  country  were  noted  for  their 
fortitude,  their  coolness  in  danger,  their  orderly  habits  of  life,  con- 
sideration for  the  weak  and  interest  in  government.  They  were  people 
whose  morals  and  standards  of  living  made  their  children  men  and 
women  of  strength  and  beauty.  The  good  looks  of  the  descendants 
of  American  pioneers  of  Massachusetts,  Virginia,  Kentucky  and  Cali- 
fornia had  their  origin  in  both  ancestry  and  right  living. 

So  long  as  there  was  free  land,  rural  America  was  largely  made 
up  of  this  fine  type  of  people.  The  first  immigrants  from  Great 
Britain  and  France  were  followed  by  other  waves  of  immigrants  from 
the  Scandinavian  countries,  Germany  and  Ireland.  They  were  being 
fused  into  a  harmonious  rural  society  when  free  land  disappeared 
and  a  new  type  of  immigrant  appeared.  What  these  are  in  California 
is  shown  by  a  recent  report  of  the  Immigration  and  Housing  Commis- 
sion which  gives  the  following  racial  summary  of  the  farm  laborers 
of  California:  "Albanians,  East  Indians,  Filipinos,  Greeks,  Spaniards, 
Slavonians,  Poles,  Russians,  Syrians,  Mexicans,  Maltese,  Japanese, 
Chinese,  Portuguese,  Armenians,  Italians,  a  few  Scotchmen  and  Ger- 
mans, and  here  and  there  an  American.  Of  these,  60  per  cent  are 
migratory  and  40  per  cent  are  local,  with  jobs  averaging  from  10  to 
15  days  in  length."  These  people  are  separated  by  language  from 
each  other  and  from  the  past  ideals  and  standards  of  American  rural 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS  AND  RURAL  HOMES  9 

life.  They  need  something  like  the  organized  community  activities 
of  Durham  to  break  down  the  barriers  of  religion,  customs,  racial 
habits  and  language.  At  present,  there  is  also  a  lack  of  family  life 
because  we  have  had  no  provision  for  homes  for  farm  laborers.  As 
the  men  greatly  outnumber  the  women,  they  live  in  bunk  houses  and 
have  no  social  status  or  interest  in  community  progress.  These  con- 
ditions must  be  changed  if  the  future  of  American  rural  civilization 
is  to  equal  its  past.  If  some  of  these  backward,  emotional,  unstable 
peoples  are  left  to  herd  alone,  they  will  not  be  lifted  up  to  American 
standards,  but  the  standards  of  poorer  countries  will  be  established 
here. 

There  are  many  who  believe  that  the  public  school  will  alone  trans- 
form what  would  otherwise  be  country  slums ;  that  we  can  ignore  the 
way  families  live  in  their  homes  if  we  look  after  the  education  of  the 
children.  The  reports  of  the  State  Immigration  and  Housing  Com- 
mission show  that  this  is  a  cheerful  delusion.  Where  the  people  of 
one  race  flock  together,  the  schools  do  not  have  a  fair  chance.  Many 
of  their  churches  oppose  the  public  schools.  They  tell  the  children 
this  is  the  road  to  hell.  They  have  their  own  newspapers  and  in 
effect  create  little  Balkan  states  and  little  Japans  in  the  part  of 
California  that  ought  to  be  purely  American. 

If  we  import  people  from  countries  where  the  conditions  of  life 
are  hard  in  order  to  get  cheap  farm  labor,  its  evils  will  not  touch  the 
wealthy  or  the  well  to  do.  If  there  was  an  immigration  which  would 
compete  with  our  people  in  banking,  commerce  and  the  professions 
as  those  who  come  from  the  submerged  countries  of  eastern  Europe 
or  Asia  now  compete  with  those  who  work  in  factories  or  on  the 
farm,  there  would  be  a  protest  from  those  who  now  advocate  this 
policy.  As  it  is  now,  the  cleanliness,  the  education  and  the  moral 
standards  which  we  have  slowly  built  up  in  this  country  act  like  a 
poison  when  the  people  who  hold  them  are  forced  to  compete  with 
others  who  have  the  standards  of  living  of  the  middle  ages. 

Asiatics  displace  Americans  by  paying  higher  prices  for  land  and 
higher  rents  for  farms  than  white  farmers  are  able  or  willing  to 
pay.  They  do  this  because  they  have  been  trained  in  an  economic 
competition  that  is  the  despair  of  the  individualistic  and  generous 
American.  Their  hours  of  labor,  cheapness  of  living  and  racial  team 
work  are  advantages  which  have  enabled  them  to  displace  the  Ameri- 
can wherever  they  seriously  undertake  it.  Owners  of  land  who  are 
more  interested  in  what  they  can  make  out' of  it  than  in  protecting 
the  racial  integrity  of  the  country,  rent  or  sell  to  whoever  pays  the 


10  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

highest  price  and  in  this  way  social  and  economic  conditions  of  untold 
seriousness  are  being  created. 

The  time  has  come  when  we  must  give  more  attention  to  the  con- 
tribution which  rural  life  makes  to  human  society.  "Whether  we  have 
good  government  or  bad  government  depends  quite  largely  on  public 
opinion  and  to  have  an  intelligent  public  opinion  in  the  country, 
farmers  must  have  time  to  read,  think,  meet  together  and  discuss 
public  affairs.  They  cannot  dp  this  if  they  have  to  compete  with  the 
men  who  are  able  to  pay  high  prices  for  land  or  high  rents  for  farms 
because  of  their  low  standards  of  living.  Under  such  competition  the 
time  and  strength  of  the  American  family  must  be  given  up  to  the 
hard  task  of  making  a  living. 

Governor  Stephens  has  called  the  attention  of  the  Federal  Gov- 
ernment to  the  need  for  a  law  which  will  preserve  the  American 
standards  of  rural  life  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  This  cannot  be  done  if 
we  open  wide  the  doors  to  the  800,000,000  of  Orientals  who  are  moved 
by  an  unrest  and  migratory  impulse  never  before  known  in  history, 
or  if  we  bring  here  any  large  part  of  the  150,000,000  now  struggling 
to  escape  from  the  chaotic  conditions  of  Russia  or  Eastern  Europe. 

As  this  country  has  drawn  more  and  more  from  countries  with 
lower  standards  of  living,  it  has  become  less  and  less  attractive  to  the 
intelligent  and  progressive  immigrants  from  northern  Europe.  It 
crowds  out  the  Danish,  Welsh,  French  and  German  just  as  it  crowds 
out  the  American.  There  is  no  question  that  it  is  creating  social 
slums  in  the  country  districts  of  California,  that  it  is  not  only  holding 
back  social  progress,  but  it  menaces  both  the  social  and  political  future 
of  the  state.  But,  if  we  are  to  maintain  high  social  and  economic 
ideals  on  the  farm,  if  the  American  family  is  to  be  able  to  clothe 
and  educate  their  children,  then  there  must  be  in  this  country  as 
there  has  been  in  the  countries  of  western  Europe  and  Australia,  con- 
structive action  by  the  government  which  will  open  to  American 
farmers  and  farm  workers  the  opportunities  for  land  and  farm 
ownership  formerly  afforded  by  free  land.  This  cannot  be  left  to 
private  enterprise  because  the  incentive  to  the  action  is  social  and 
political  and  not  to  make  money.  The  reasons  that  led  Australia  to 
advance  hundreds  of  millions  of  dollars  to  building  up  a  sound  rural 
civilization  and  keep  out  the  swarming  tides  of  Orientals  that  sought 
to  come  in,  must  sooner  or  later  constrain  California  and  other  Amer- 
ican states  to  adopt  the  policies  of  the  California  Land  Settlement 
Act. 


Circular  221 


OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL   HOMES 


11 


HOW    LAND    FOR    SETTLEMENT    IS    ACQUIRED 

Land  for  two  settlements  has  been  bought.  In  each  case  the  Board 
invited  offers  of  land  in  areas  large  enough  to  provide  not  less  than 
100  farms.  Four  thousand  acres  was  the  minimum  area  which  would 
be  considered.  About  40  different  tracts  were  offered  at  the  time  of 
the  first  purchase  and  about  80  tracts  at  the  time  of  the  second. 

The  soil  of  the  different  tracts  was  examined  by  Prof.  C.  F.  Shaw, 
Professor  of  Soil  Technology  at  the  University  of  California,  and  his 
assistants.  His  reports  have  greatly  aided  the  Board.  The  Dean  of 
the  College  of  Agriculture  is  the  expert  adviser  regarding  the  suit- 


Fig.  4. — Farm  home,  Durham. 


ability  of  land  to  be  purchased  and  the  price  which  ought  to  be  paid. 
Prof.  Frank  Adams,  in  charge  of  irrigation  investigations,  has  advised 
the  Board  regarding  water  rights  and  suitability  of  soil  for  irrigation. 
Prof.  W.  B.  Herms  has  reported  on  health  conditions. 

Both  of  the  tracts  purchased  are  irrigable.  The  irrigation  canals 
at  Durham  are  completed  and  are  being  operated  by  the  settlers' 
association.  The  distributing  system  at  Delhi  will  be  completed  for 
the  first  and  second  units  in  time  for  irrigation  in  1921.  A  contour 
and  soil  survey  of  both  tracts  has  been  made.  These  help  to  fix  the 
shape,  size  and  price  of  farms.    Experts  of  the  College  of  Agriculture 


12  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

have  rendered  important  aid  in  the  early  development  of  these  settle- 
ments.8 The  Board  employs  a  superintendent  to  act  as  the  friendly 
practical  adviser  of  settlers  and  a  farmstead  engineer  helps  plan  farm 
buildings  and  lay  out  the  farms. 

At  Durham,  about  $30,000  was  expended  in  preparing  farms  for 
cultivation  before  they  were  turned  over  to  settlers.  A  similar  course 
has  been  followed  at  Delhi,  where  land  was  seeded  to  alfalfa  and 
130,000  rooted  grape  vines  were  planted  before  the  farms  were  sold. 


TERMS    OF    PAYMENT    FOR    LAND    AND     IMPROVEMENTS 

(Taken  from  the  Board's  announcement  of  the  opening  of  the  first  unit  of  Delhi.) 

Five  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  the  land  must  be  paid  at  the  time  of 
purchase  and  40  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  the  improvements.  Payment 
of  the  remainder  of  the  purchase  price  of  land  can,  if  desired,  be 
made  in  73  semiannual  payments  extending  over  36i/2  years  with 
interest  at  the  rate  of  5  per  cent  per  annum,  payments  of  principal 
and  interest  to  be  made  semi-annually.  These  payments  will  be 
amortized  in  accordance  with  a  table  approved  by  the  Federal  Farm 
Loan  Board.  If  settlers  desire  they  can  make  a  larger  initial  payment 
or  they  can  pay  off  any  number  of  installments  of  the  principal  at 
any  installment  date  after  five,  years  from  the  first  payment.  Pay- 
ments on  improvements  may  extend  over  a  period  of  20  years. 

The  settler,  on  making  the  initial  payment,  is  given  a  contract 
of  purchase  which  sets  forth  the  conditions  of  payment  and  the 
obligations  a  settler  assumes.  He  is  given  a  deed  to  the  land  when 
payments  are  completed  and  all  other  conditions  of  the  purchase  con- 
tract have  been  fulfilled. 

Section  11  of  the  act  provides  that  the  Board  may  at  any  time 
prior  to  the  end  of  the  fifth  year  after  the  commencement  of  the 
settler's  purchase  contract  extend  the  following  aid: 

(a)  Prepare  all  or  any  part  of  such  land  for  irrigation  and  culti- 
vation. 

(b)  Seed,  plant,  or  fence  such  land,  and  cause  dwelling  houses  and 
outbuildings  to  be  erected  on  any  farm  allotment  or  make  any  other 


s  The  following  officials  assisted  in  working  out  the  plans  for  Durham  and 
for  carrying  the  State  Land  Settlement  Act  into  effect:  University  of  California, 
Professors  Chas.  F.  Shaw  (Division  of  Soil  Technology),  W.  B.  Herms  (Professor 
of  Parasitology),  Gordon  H.  True  (Division  of  Animal  Husbandry),  Frank  Adams 
(Irrigation  Investigations)  ;  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  Mr.  Milo  B.  Wil- 
liams; State  Engineering  Department,  Mr.  W.  E.  Backus;  State  Board  of  Control, 
Mr.  W.  B.  Draper  and  S.  Gundelfinger,  accounts;  Mr.  Frank  English,  Deputy 
Attorney  General  of  the  State  of  California. 


Circular  221  owning  farms  and  rural  homes  13 

improvements  not  specified  above  necessary  to  render  the  allotment 
habitable  and  productive  in  advance  of  or  after  settlement,  the  total 
cost  to  the  Board  of  such  dwellings,  outbuildings,  and  improvements 
not  to  exceed  one  thousand  five  hundred  ($1500)  dollars  on  any  one 
farm  allotment. 

(c)  Cause  cottages  to  be  erected  on  any  farm  laborer's  allotment 
and  provide  a  domestic  water  supply,  the  combined  cost  to  the  board 
of  the  cottage  and  water  supply  not  to  exceed  eight  hundred  ($800) 
dollars  on  any  one  farm  laborer's  allotment. 

(d)  Make  loans  to  approved  settlers  on  the  security  of  permanent 
improvements,  stock  and  farm  implements,  such  loans  to  be  secured 
by  mortgage  or  mortgages,  deed  or  deeds  of  trust  on  such  permanent 
improvements,  stock  or  farm  implements,  and  the  total  amount  of  any 
such  loan,  together  with  money  spent  by  the  Board  on  improvements 
as  above  specified,  not  to  exceed  three  thousand  ($3000)  dollars  on 
any  one  farm  allotment,  or  two  thousand  ($2000)  dollars  on  any  one 
farm  laborer's  allotment. 

Conditions  Governing  Settlement. — The  purpose  of  the  State  Land 
Settlement  Act  is  given  in  section  2.  It  is  "To  provide  employment 
and  rural  homes  for  soldiers,  sailors,  marines  and  others  who  have 
served  with  the  armed  forces  of  the  United  States  in  the  European 
War  or  other  wars  of  the  United  States,  including  former  American 
citizens  who  served  in  allied  armies  against  the  central  powers  and 
have  been  repatriated,  and  who  have  been  honorably  discharged,  to 
promote  closer  agricultural  settlement,  to  assist  deserving  and  quali- 
fied persons  to  acquire  small  improved  farms,  to  demonstrate  the 
value  of  adequate  capital  and  organized  direction  in  subdividing  and 
preparing  agricultural  land  for  settlement,  and  to  provide  homes  for 
farm  laborers." 

In  accordance  with  the  above,  ex-service  men  who,  in  the  opinion 
of  the  Board,  are  qualified  to  succeed,  will  be  given  preference  over 
civilian  applicants. 

Where  settlers  have  enough  money  to  make  needed  improvements 
they  will  be  expected  to  do  this.  Improvements  to  enable  farms  to 
be  brought  into  full  production  in  the  shortest  possible  time  will, 
where  necessary,  be  made  by  the  Board.  The  superintendent  will 
give  beginners  practical  advice  and  direction  regarding  farm  oper- 
ations and  aid  in  the  organization  of  cooperative  organizations. 

Community  Cooperation  Association. — The  benefits  of  cooperation 
have  been  so  strikingly  shown  at  Durham,  that  every  settler  will  be 


14  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

required  in  his  purchase  contract  to  become  a  member  of  a  community 
cooperative  association  and  conform  to  the  constitution  and  by-laws. 
Copies  of  these  may  be  had  at  the  Board's  offices.  Aid  will  be  given 
in  extending  cooperation  in  other  directions  to  meet  all  the  settle- 
ment's needs. 

Qualification  of  Settlers — Minimum  Capital. — Each  settler  should 
have  such  practical  knowledge,  industry,  and  character  as  to  utilize 
fully  the  advantages  of  soil,  climate,  and  liberal  financial  terms  of  the 
settlement. 

No  applicant  shall  be  approved  who  shall  not  satisfy  the  Board 
as  to  his  or  her  fitness  successfully  to  cultivate  and  develop  the  allot- 
ment applied  for.  In  the  selection  of  settlers  these  qualifications  will 
be  given  great  weight.  The  settler  must  have  enough  money  to  pay 
5  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  the  land.  He  should  also  have  enough  money 
to  buy  a  working  equipment  of  tools  and  livestock.  "What  this  mini- 
mum capital  should  be  depends  in  some  measure  on  the  acreage  of 
land  taken  and  the  kind  of  agriculture  the  settler  intends  to  follow. 
The  State  Land  Settlement  Board  does  not  believe  that  any  one  should 
attempt  to  buy  one  of  these  farm  allotments  who  has  less  than  $1500 
capital,  or  a  working  equipment  of  implements  and  livestock  which 
is  the  equivalent  of  such  capital. 

There  is  no  maximum  limit  on  the  money  a  settler  may  have,  but 
a  settler  must  not  be  the  holder  of  agricultural  land  elsewhere,  or  of 
possessory  rights  thereto,  to  the  value  of  $15,000  and  must  not  by  this 
purchase  become  the  holder  of  agricultural  land  or  of  possessory  rights 
thereto  exceeding  such  value  of  $15,000. 

Capital  of  Farm  Workers. — The  farm  laborer  can,  however,  safely 
undertake  the  purchase  of  a  two  to  four  acre  farm  laborer 's  allotment 
if  he  can  make  the  initial  payment.  The  semiannual  payments  will 
be  less  than  the  rent  he  would  have  to  pay  for  a  house  in  town.  The 
industrious  man  can  save  enough  out  of  his  wages  to  meet  these 
payments,  hence  he  docs  not  need  a  working  capital.  Farm  laborers 
will,  therefore,  be  accepted  who  are  in  a  position  to  meet  this  initial 
payment. 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS  AND  RURAL  HOMES  15 


GENERAL    CONDITIONS    REQUIRED    BY    THE    LAND    SETTLEMENT    ACT 

Land  must  be  sold  either  as  farm  allotments,  each  of  which  shall 
have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without  improvements,  fifteen  thousand 
($15,000)  dollars,  or  as  farm  laborers'  allotments,  each  of  which  shall 
have  a  value  not  exceeding,  without  improvemnets,  one  thousand 
($1000)  dollars. 

Applicants  must  be  citizens  of  the  United  States,  or  have  declared 
their  intention  to  become  citizens. 


Fig.  5. — Preparing  land  for  irrigation  at  Delhi. 

The  State  Land  Settlement  Board  reserves  the  right  to  reject  at 
its  discretion  any  or  all  applications. 

Settlers  must  be  prepared  to  enter  within  six  (6)  months,  upon 
actual  occupation  of  the  land  acquired. 

No  more  than  one  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborer's  allotment  shall 
be  sold  to  any  one  person. 

The  repayment  of  loans  which  may  be  made  by  the  Board  to 
settlers  on  livestock  or  implements  may  extend  over  a  period  of  five 
(5)  years. 

Every  contract  entered  into  between  the  Board  and  an  approved 
purchaser  shall  contain,  among  other  things,  provisions  that  the  pur- 
chaser shall  cultivate  the  land  in  a  manner  to  be  approved  by  the 
Board  and  shall  keep  in  good  order  and  repair  all  buildings,  fences 


16  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

and  other  permanent  improvements  situated  on  his  allotment,  reason- 
able wear  and  tear  and  damage  by  fire  excepted. 

Each  settler  shall,  if  required,  insure  and  keep  insured  against 
fire  all  buildings  on  his  allotment,  the  policies  therefor  to  be  made  out 
in  favor  of  the  Board,  and  to  be  such  amount  or  amounts,  and  in  such 
insurance  companies  as  may  be  prescribed  by  the  Board. 

No  allotment  sold  under  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  trans- 
ferred, assigned,  mortgaged,  or  sublet  in  whole  or  in  part,  without 
the  consent  of  the  board  given  in  writing,  until  the  settler  has  paid 
for  his  farm  allotment  or  farm  laborer's  allotment  in  full  and  com- 
plied with  all  of  the  terms  and  conditions  of  his  contract  of  purchase. 

In  the  event  of  a  failure  of  the  settler  to  comply  with  any  of  the 
terms  of  his  contract  of  purchase  and  agreement  with  the  Board, 
the  state  and  the  Board  shall  have  the  right  at  its  option  to  cancel 
the  said  contract  of  purchase  and  agreement,  and  thereupon  shall  be 
released  from  all  obligation  in  law  or  equity  to  convey  the  property, 
and  the  settler  shall  forfeit  all  right  thereto,  and  all  payments  there- 
tofore made  shall  be  deemed  to  be  rental  paid  for  occupancy. 

The  failure  of  the  Board  or  the  State  to  exercise  any  option  to 
cancel  for  any  default  shall  not  be  deemed  as  a  waiver  of  the  right 
to  exercise  the  option  to  cancel  for  any  default  thereafter  on  the 
settler's  part. 

No  forfeiture  occasioned  by  default  on  the  part  of  the  settler  shall 
be  deemed  in  any  way,  or  to  any  extent,  to  impair  the  lien  and  security 
of  the  mortgage  or  trust  instrument  securing  any  loan  that  the  Board 
may  have  made  as  in  the  Land  Settlement  Act  provided. 

The  Board  shall  have  the  right  and  power  to  enter  into  a  contract 
of  purchase  for  the  sale  and  disposition  of  any  land  forfeited,  because 
of  default  on  the  part  of  a  settler. 

Actual  residence  on  any  allotment  sold  shall  commence  within  six 
(6)  months  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  application,  and  shall 
continue,  for  at  least  eight  (8)  months  in  each  calendar  year  for  at 
least  ten  (10)  years  from  the  date  of  the  approval  of  the  said  appli- 
cation, unless  illness  or  some  other  cause  satisfactory  to  the  Board 
prevents;  provided,  that  in  case  any  farm  allotment  disposed  of  is 
resold  by  the  state,  the  time  of  residence  of  the  preceding  purchaser 
may  in  the  discretion  of  the  Board  be  credited  to  the  subsequent 
purchaser. 


Circular  221  OWNING  FARMS  AND  RURAL  HOMES  17 


PROGRESS    OF    THE     STATE     SETTLEMENTS    AND    THEIR     DISTINGUISHING 

FEATURES 

Those  who  are  looking  for  homes  under  the  California  Land 
Settlement  Act  can  find  them  only  at  Delhi  as  all  of  the  farms  and 
farm  laborers'  homes  now  available  at  Durham  have  been  sold.  Some 
knowledge  of  the  development  at  Durham  will  help  people  to  under- 
stand what  Delhi  is  likely  to  be. 

DUEHAM 

Durham  is  interesting  because  it  is  old  enough  to  have  a  distinctive 
character  and  can  therefore  be  regarded  as  a  concrete  expression  of 
the  California  Land  Settlement  Act.  The  settlement  is  in  Butte 
County  with  Durham,  a  village  of  about  500  people,  about  half  a  mile 
away.  Two  railroads  connect  the  settlement  with  the  state  capital 
and  the  state  highway  runs  through  Durham.  Of  the  6200  acres  of 
land  purchased,  360  acres  have  been  leased  for  three  years.  About 
700  acres  is  too  high  to  be  irrigated  by  gravity.  Neither  the  leased 
lands  nor  the  high  pasture  lands  have  been  sold.  The  settlement  there- 
fore embraces  about  5000  acres  and  on  this  90  farmers,  26  farm 
laborers  and  their  families  now  live. 

The  first  step  after  the  purchase  of  the  land  was  to  make  it  ready 
for  settlement.  To  do  this,  a  soil  survey  was  made  and  a  soil  map 
prepared  which  showed  the  land  that  was  best  adapted  to  the  growing 
of  grain,  fruit,  alfalfa,  and  vegetables.  This  soil  map  was  the 
foundation  of  the  valuation  of  the  different  farms  and  farm  laborers' 
allotments,  and  has  proven  of  marked  practical  usefulness.  Then  a 
contour  survey  giving  every  change  of  elevation  of  six  inches  was 
made.  It  was  the  basis  for  laying  out  the  irrigation  ditches  and  for 
leveling  the  surface  of  the  different  farms  so  that  water  would  flow 
over  it  evenly.  Following  the  preparation  of  the  soil  and  contour 
maps  a  subdivisional  plan  of  the  area  was  adopted  and  when  the 
boundaries  of  the  different  tracts  had  been  marked  out  and  perma- 
nently witnessed  by  concrete  posts  the  different  farms  were  valued. 
It  was  necessary  that  the  total  sum  received  from  the  sale  of  the  land 
should  equal  the  amount  paid  for  it,  plus  the  amount  that  had  been 
expended  in  building  the  irrigation  system  and  the  estimated  amount 
of  money  needed  to  cover  further  expenses  and  possible  losses. 

All  these  expenses  have  to  be  provided  for,  as  the  enterprise  must 
be  self  sustaining.  The  state  gives  nothing.  In  effect  it  loans  the 
Board  money  at  4  per  cent.    The  whole  cost  of  land,  roads,  irrigation 


18  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA — EXPERIMENT    STATION 

system  and  estimated  overhead  worked  out  an  average  cost  of  $173 
an  acre  and  the  different  farms  had  to  be  valued  with  a  view  to  making 
them  all  equally  attractive,  the  whole  realizing  this  average  price. 

When  valued  there  was  a  wide  range  in  prices  on  the  different 
farms,  the  lowest  being  $75,  the  highest  $235  an  acre.  So  well  had 
the  valuations  been  made  that  every  farm  was  the  first  choice  of  some 
applicant.  The  average  value  of  the  farms  is  $8800;  the  average 
value  of  the  farm  workers'  allotment  is  $400. 

Before  the  land  was  thrown  open  to  settlement  it  had  been  exam- 
ined by  the  experts  of  the  State  Agricultural  College,  who  advised 
the  settlers  to  adopt  a  combination  of  dairying,  stock  raising  and  the 
growing  of  fodder  crops,  of  which  alfalfa  is  the  most  important.  For 
this  kind  of  agriculture,  cooperation  in  buying  and  selling  was  im- 
portant. If  the  90  farmers  had  been  left  to  buy  the  livestock  needed 
on  their  farms  without  any  organization  or  cooperation,  they  would 
have  been  bidding  against  each  other  at  sales,  often  buying  unfit 
animals  at  high  prices.  Instead  of  this,  they  formed  a  cooperative 
stock  breeders'  association.  They  adopted  one  breed  of  dairy  cattle, 
the  use  of  nothing  but  pure-bred  sires,  and  elected  a  buying  committee, 
which  has  purchased  all  the  animals  now  on  the  settlement. 

In  this  way  they  have  secured  better  stock  at  far  less  money  than 
would  have  been  possible  if  each  individual  worked  alone.  The  same 
principle  of  organized  cooperation  has  run  through  the  development 
of  their  farms.  Instead  of  leaving  each  settler  to  look  after  the  build- 
ing of  his  house,  the  Board  employed  a  farmstead  engineer,  who  with 
competent  assistance  has  bought  the  material  needed  for  houses  at 
wholesale  for  cash,  made  the  plans  and  supervised  their  erection.  This 
left  the  settlers  free  to  go  about  the  development  and  cultivation  of 
their  farms,  increasing  their  first  year's  income  by  growing  more 
crops,  and  they  secured  houses  that  are  better  built  and  far  more 
attractive  than  is  the  usual  rule  in  unorganized  development. 

The  Superintendent  of  the  Durham  Settlement  is  a  graduate  of 
the  Colorado  Agricultural  College.  He  had  been  for  five  years  in 
Australia  as  the  superintendent  in  the  management  of  one  of  the 
closer  settled  irrigated  areas  in  the  State  of  Victoria,  and  had  spent 
two  years  as  farm  adviser  in  one  of  the  counties  of  California.  His 
experience  had  prepared  him,  therefore,  to  understand  the  needs  of 
settlers  and  made  him  a  valuable  advisor. 

The  capital  of  the  farmers  at  Durham  varied  from  $1500  to 
$15,000,  the  average  being  $6700.  The  capital  of  farm  laborers  varied 
from  $20  to  $4700. 


Circular  221 


OWNING   FARMS   AND   RURAL   HOMES 


19 


When  the  Board  purchased  the  land  in  the  spring  of  1918  no  one 
had  lived  on  it  but  tenants  or  hired  laborers  for  20  years.  Now  there 
are  about  120  families  with  more  than  200  children,  all  living  in 
comfortable  houses,  cultivating  farms  that  are  in  most  cases  fully 
improved  and  on  which  there  are  man}7  dairy  herds  of  unusual  excel- 
lence. It  furnishes  a  striking  contrast  to  the  menace  of  the  slum  life 
of  the  cities,  and  should  encourage  those  who  believe  in  an  enlarged  use 


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K1H1   CUfnRNW. 

Fig.  6. — The  Delhi  townsite.     It  has  the  offices  of  the  board  and  a  large  factory 
for  making  concrete  pipe. 

of  the  state  as  an  instrument  of  direct  service  in  those  things  that 
affect  the  general  welfare. 

The  average  income  of  settlers  who  have  been  on  these  farms  for 
a  year  is  over  $2000.  They  have  met  their  payments  to  the  state 
and  they  are  in  good  condition  to  continue  to  do  so.  In  1919  a  com- 
mittee of  the  State  Legislature,  after  investigating  the  colony,  reported 
that  it  was  a  kind  of  development  that  the  state  could  expand 
indefinitely.    An  appropriation  of  $1,000,000  for  immediate  extensions 


20  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

was  made  without  opposition,  and  a  bond  issue  of  $10,000,000  was 
authorized.9 

.  The  total  indebtedness  to  the  state  of  the  settlers  at  Durham  is 
about  $900,000  and  the  total  arrears  in  June  30,  1920,  was  less  than 
$10,000  or  about  1  per  cent.  The  surplus  of  assets  over  liabilities  as 
shown  by  the  last  audit  of  the  state  authorities  is  $185,000.  It  is  there- 
fore, a  solvent  institution  both  for  the  settlers  and  for  the  state. 
The  Cooperative  Stock  Breeders'  Association  own  seven  registered 
Holstein  bulls  and  several  fine  herds  of  pure  bred  stock  have  been 
started.  A  number  of  orchards  have  been  planted  and  the  indications 
are  that  dairying,  market  gardening  and  fruit  growing  will  all  have 
important  places  in  the  settlement. 

DELHI 

The  Delhi  Settlement  is  in  Merced  County  in  the  well  known 
Turlock  Irrigation  District.  The  9,000  acres  purchased  will  be  offered 
to  settlers  in  three  units  as  fast  as  made  ready  for  irrigation.  The 
first  unit  was  opened  in  May,  1920.  The  second  will  be  opened  in 
September,  1920.  The  report  on  this  tract  made  to  the  Board  by  the 
Professor  of  Soil  Technology  of  the  State  University  gives  the  infor- 
mation most  desired  by  intending  settlers. 

Location. — The  main  tract  lies  principally  between  the  Southern  Pacific  and 
Santa  Fe  railroads  and  extends  from  about  one  mile  west  of  Delhi  townsite  to 
about  a  mile  east  of  Ballico.  It  is  about  seven  miles  southeast  of  Turlock  in 
Merced  County. 

Acreage. — Its  greatest  length  is  about  4^  miles  with  a  width  of  about  four 
miles  in  its  widest  part.    It  covers  about  9%  square  miles  or  8570  acres. 

Elevation. — The  tract  has  an  average  elevation  of  about  135  feet  above  sea 
level  with  local  variations  in  its  surface  features  of  about  25  feet. 

Surface  Features. — The  land  has  an  undulating  surface  with  minor  local  areas 
of  dune-like  topography.  The  entire  surface  is  largely  wind-formed  and  possesses 
minor  elevations,  ridges  and  depressions  characteristic  of  wind-formed  soils.  The 
general  slope  of  the  land  is  from  north  to  south  and  from  east  to  west  with  an 
average  gradient  of  about  seven  or  eight  feet  to  the  mile. 

Land. — Only  one  type  of  soil,  a  medium  sand,  is  present.  The  soil  on  the  ridge 
crests  and  other  elevated  parts  is  usually  somewhat  coarser  than  that  at  lower 
levels.  The  soil  is  uniform  to  six  feet  or  more  in  depth  except  for  a  few  small 
intermittent  spots  containing  thin  layers  of  rather  compact  silty  material  at 
depths  ranging  from  three  to  six  feet  below  the  surface.  Some  scattered  areas 
totalling  less  than  300  acres  in  extent  are  underlain  by  one  or  more  layers  of 
gray  calcareous  hardpan,  while  other  areas,  totalling  about  200  acres,  have  a  red 
' '  iron ' '  hardpan  at  depths  of  from  three  to  four  feet. 


s  This  bond  issue  has  recently  been  declared  invalid  because  of  a  defect  in  the 
sinking  fund  provision. 


CIRCULAR  221  OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL,  HOMES  21 

The  sand  in  the  depressions  and  other  lower  lying  positions  is  a  little  more 
loamy  and  locally  approaches  a  fine  sand  in  texture.  In  these  places  the  compact 
silty  subsoil  layers  are  more  numerous  and  usually  nearer  the  surface  but  they 
do  not  hinder  the  penetration  of  roots  and  water.  In  fact  they  sometimes  serve 
a  beneficial  purpose  in  checking  the  loss  of  water  by  percolation.  The  soil  is 
loose  and  soft  when  dry  and  in  the  virgin  state  and  tends  to  drift  quite  badly 
over  exposed  surfaces  but  when  sown  to  crops  and  irrigated  the  surface  packs  quite 
firmly  and  is  not  affected  by  wind  to  any  great  extent.  It  is  low  in  organic  matter, 
absorbs  water  readily  and  is  very  easily  tilled  at  all  times  of  the  year. 

No  alkali  is  present  in  this  tract  but  the  water  table  is  high  in  part  of  the  area 
west  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Railroad.  Excessive  use  of  water  on  the  same  kind 
of  soil  nearby  has  caused  a  rising  of  the  watertable  in  some  of  the  depressions 
and  an  accumulation  of  small  amounts  of  alkali. 

The  tract  as  a  whole  is  very  well  drained  and  the  soil  retains  moisture  well. 

Irrigation. — Units  1  and  2  of  the  Delhi  Settlement  are  in  the  Turloek  Irrigation 
District,  a  cooperative  organization  of  water  users.  Gravity  water  is  taken  from 
the  Tuolumne  Eiver  by  the  district  canals.  This,  in  some  instances,  will  be  supple- 
mented by  water  pumped  from  wells.  In  order  to  lessen  the  loss  of  water  in  dis- 
tribution and  furnish  a  better  supply  for  the  farms,  part  of  the  irrigation  water 
will  be  delivered  through  concrete  pipe  lines.  As  these  pipe  lines  can  deliver 
water  to  different  elevations,  it  will  render  it  unnecessary  to  grade  down  some 
of  the  rolling  country  or  to  build  high  fills  for  ditches.  The  cost  of  pipe  lines  or 
ditches  to  deliver  water  to  every  farm  is  included  in  the  selling  price  of  the  land. 
The  annual  charge  for  water  from  the  district  will  include  an  assessment  on  the 
value  of  the  land  made  by  the  district  which,  in  1919,  amounted  approximately 
to  $1.4t)  an  acre  and  whatever  additional  charge  is  needed  to  maintain  the  local 
pipe  lines  and  distributing  works. 

The  state  has  built  a  concrete  pipe  factory  at  Delhi  which  will  furnish  pipe 
to  the  farmer  at  cost,  when  he  desires  to  use  pipe  instead  of  earthen  ditches  for 
his  farm  laterals. 

The  cost  of  levelling  land  for  irrigation  on  the  Delhi  Colony  varies  with  the 
surface  irregularities,  ranging  from  $30  to  $50  per  acre  for  alfalfa  and  $10  to 
$30  per  acre  for  orchard  or  vines.  Narrow  border  irrigation  has  been  found  to 
be  the  most  adaptable  for  alfalfa  and  basin  and  furrow  irrigation  for  orchards 
and  cultivated  crops. 

Climate. — The  climate  of  the  region  is  healthful  and  is  characteristic  of  that 
of  the  best  drained  parts  of  the  San  Joaquin  Valley.  The  rainfall  is  about  10 
inches. 

Utilisation. — Most  of  the  land  in  the  tract  is  still  in  the  virgin  state.  That 
in  use  is  utilized  without  irrigation  for  rye,  wheat,  barley  and  milo  with  low  yields. 

Under  irrigation  from  wells  from  seven  to  nine  tons  of  alfalfa  were  produced 
per  acre  in  six  cuttings  in  part  of  Sec.  1  near  Ballico.  Here  excellent  pumpkins, 
sweet  and  Irish  potatoes,  melons,  peaches,  grapes,  milo  and  other  crops  are  pro- 
duced. A  well  is  located  on  a  sand  ridge  in  this  section  which  supplies  about  80 
to  100  inches  of  water  with  a  lift  of  50  feet  and  an  apparent  inexhaustible  supply 
of  water. 

There  are  no  nearby  lands  suitable  for  grazing  purposes. 

The  land  is  capable  of  intensive  agriculture  and  well  suited  for  subdivision 
purposes.     The  roads  are  very  heavy  with  sand  but  these  can  be  greatly  improved 


22  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

without  serious  difficulty.  The  state  highway  cuts  through  the  western  part  of 
the  settlement  lands  and  the  county  has  considered  the  plan  of  improving  the 
road  along  the  Santa  Fe  Railroad  on  the  east. 

Water,  and  suitable  types  of  farming,  are  the  most  important  factors  for 
success  with  crops  on  this  tract. 

Transportation  is  excellent. 

The  Superintendent  at  Delhi  is  a  graduate  of  the  Iowa  Agricultural 
College  and  was  formerly  in  charge  of  the  State  Experiment  Station 
in  the  Imperial  Valley  and  later  Assistant  State  Leader  of  Farm 
Advisors  of  California. 

One  hundred  and  sixty  acres  were  planted  to  vines  and  80  acres 
seeded  to  alfalfa  before  the  first  unit  at  Delhi  was  opened.  The  vines 
have  done  well  when  not  injured  by  rabbits.  The  alfalfa  was  dam- 
aged by  the  winds  due  to  the  earliness  of  planting.  Windbreaks  are 
needed  in  order  to  check  the  cutting  effect  of  the  wind-carried  sand. 
Eucalyptus  trees  have  been  planted  around  the  town  of  Delhi  and 
along  one  of  the  highways. 

Delhi  ought  to  start  with  dairying  and  trucking  and  grow  into  a 
vine  and  orchard  district.  A  few  years  of  alfalfa  and  cows  will  put 
the  soil  in  condition  to  push  fruit  trees  and  vines  into  bearing  faster 
than  if  planted  in  the  virgin  soil. 

DELHI  TOWNSITE 

Professor  J.  W.  Gregg,  Professor  of  Landscape  Gardening  at  the 
University,  prepared  the  plan  at  Delhi  townsite.  Its  curved  streets 
and  sightly  location  on  high  land  bordering  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
way and  the  state  highway  will  make  it  a  pleasant  town  to  live  in 
and  it  has  enough  tributary  country  to  make  it  a  good  business  center. 


Circular  221 


OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL   HOMES 


23 


THE   CAPITAL  A   SETTLER    SHOULD    HAVE 

Nothing  connected  with  the  operation  of  this  act  has  been  more 
discussed  than  the  Board's  requirement  that  an  applicant  for  a  farm 
should  have  at  least  $1500  to  be  accepted.  Men  accustomed  to  free 
homesteads  said,  "Why  not  take  men  without  any  money?"  The 
Board  took  this  action  because  a  settler  had  to  have  money  to  make 
the  first  small  payment.  He  had  to  have  money  to  live  on  while 
growing  a  crop  and  part  of  the  money  needed  to  buy  equipment  and 
develop  the  land's  earning  power.  The  minimum  fixed  was  regarded 
as  the  least  sum  with  which  a  very  industrious  and  saving  family  could 


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Fig.  7.— Block  10,  Durham. 


squeeze  through.  After  two  years'  experience,  that  sum  is  regarded 
as  too  small.  An  applicant  for  a  farm  should  now  have  more  money 
because  the  cost  of  everything  which  has  to  be  bought  has  about 
doubled. 

A  rough  estimate  of  the  outlay  which  a  settler  on  a  40  acre  farm, 
costing  with  water  right  $250  an  acre,  or  $10,000,  will  have  to  incur 
the  first  year  has  been  prepared.  It  will  help  intending  settlers  decide 
how  much  money  they  ought  to  have,  to  undertake  buying  a  farm  at 
Delhi. 


Settler's 
Payment 

State 
Advance 

$500 

$9,500 

285 

600 

900 

240 

360 

120 

180 

400 

600 

750 

300 

320 

480 

400 

400 

500 

4,815 

$2,520* 

24  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

In  this  estimate  the  settler  borrows  $2520  from  the  Board.  This 
is  as  much  as  the  Board  ought  to  lend  any  settler  the  first  year.  Some 
margin  of  the  $3000  credit  which  can  be  extended  ought  to  be  held 
in  reserve  for  later  emergencies. 


Minimum  First  Year  Expenses  of  Settler  Buying 

A  40  Acre  Farm  Costing  $10,000 

Item  Cost 

40  acres  at  $250 $10,000 

Semi  annual  land  payment 

House 1,500 

Farm  buildings 600 

Team 300 

Cows,  pigs  and  chickens 1,000 

Farm  implements 750 

Furniture 

Levelling  and  alfalfa  (15  acres) 800 

Planting  and  cultivating  20  acres 400 

Ditches — Laterals 400 

Living  Expenses 500 


This  leaves  the  settler  a  credit  margin  of  $480.  The  Board  can 
advance  this  farther  amount  if  the  settler 's  industry  or  need  warrants 
doing  so. 

Practical  farmers  looking  over  the  above  list  would  vary  the  cost 
of  different  items  and  add  to  or  subtract  from  the  things  needed.  It 
is  the  opinion  of  the  superintendents  of  Durham  and  Delhi,  who  have 
examined  and  approved  the  costs  in  this  table,  that  the  total  is  below 
rather  than  above  the  average  outlay.  It  does  not  include  taxes,  water 
charges  or  doctors'  bills. 


Retail  Cost  of  Some  of  the  Articles  Needed  in 
Equipping  a  Farm 

The  prices  of  farm  and  household  articles  needed  by  settlers  were  obtained  from 
the  merchants  at  Turlock,  the  nearest  large  town  to  Delhi. 

Article  Cost 

Driven  well  and  pump  for  household $50.00  to    $75.00 

9  x  12  hog  house 50.00  to    125.00 

Lumber  for  outbuildings  and  corral,  per  thousand 45.00  to      50.00 

Fence  posts,  per  hundred 35.00 

Barb  wire,  per  roll 80  rod  spool 7.10 

per  hundred  lbs 8.90 

*  In  addition  to  the  advance  on  land. 


Circular  221 


OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL   HOMES 


25 


Article 

Woven  wire,  two  feet  wide — 

Union  lock  24  in.  high  6  in.  space,  per  roll.. 

Union  lock  26  in.  high  6  in.  space,  roll  of  20  rods 

Chicken  wire  24  in.  high,  per  roll  of  150  ft 

Silo,  $2.50  to  $5.00  per  ton  capacity 

Team  of  horses 

Set  of  harness 

Dairy  cow 

Brood  sows pure  bred 

grade 

Fowl,  per  dozen.. 

12  inch  walking  plow Wood  beam 

Steel  beam 

9  foot  spike  tooth  harrow New  Ajax  5-8  in.  teeth 

50  tooth 

60  tooth 

Walking  cultivator 2  horse 

Hand  cultivator 

Corn  and  bean  planter 

Fresno  Scraper 

Pruning  saw 

Hand  spray  outfit Bucket  spray 

Knapsack  spray 

5  foot  mower John  Deere 

10  foot  rake 

Hay  rack 

2  ton  wagon 4  in.  tire 

Pitchforks 3  tine  5  ft.  handle 

4  tine  5  ft.  handle 

Shovels Long  handle 

Hoes 6  to  8  in 


Post  auger 6  in 

7  in.  Irvan 
Jackson  hay  fork 4    ft 

4Ht 

5    ft 

Feeding  trough 


Feed  buckets 8  qt.  gal.  iron. 

10  qt.  gal.  iron. 

12  qt.  gal.  iron. 

14  qt.  gal.  iron. 

16  qt.  gal.  iron. 
2  trees 


Cost 

9.20 

10.70 
3.55 
250.00  to 
300.00 

50.00  to 

75.00  to 

50.00  to 

30.00 

15.00 

25.50 

35.20 

32.40 
36.50 
85.00  to 
12.00 
75.00  to 
32.00 
.60  to 
6.50 
15.00 
107.50 
75.00 
25.00  to 
150.00  to 
2.00 
2.25 
1.85  to 
1.20 
2.10 
2.90 
3.00 
18.00 
18.65 
22.65 
15.00  to 
.60 
.70 
.75 
.85 
1.05 
2.00 


600.00 

60.00 
200.00 
200.00 


90.00 


80.00 


2.50 


40.00 
235.00 


2.75 


25.00 


Cook  stove  (wood) . 


House  Furnishings 

Steel  range,  6  hole 60.00  to 

Cast  iron  range,  6  hole  35 .  00 

Cast  iron  range,  4  hole  20 .  00 
Steel  range  6  hole,  drop 

door 250.00 


250.00 


26  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA — EXPERIMENT    STATION 

Article  Cost 

Cook  stove  (kerosene) 3  burner  coal  oil,  quick 

meal 28.80 

Double  burner,  oven 5 .  50  to      1 1 .  00 

Glass  door 7.00 

Table 42  in.  to  60  in.,  6  ft.  ex- 
tension   24.00  to    115.00 

Kitchen  chairs 2.25 

Bedstead  (double)  (iron  or  brass) 10.50  to      34.00 

Spring 7.50  to      28.00 

Mattress 12.50  to      45.00 

Cooking  utensils  (family  of  five)  for  necessities — not  aluminum  15 .  00  to      20 .  00 

Kitchen  table 42  in.  x  48  in 6.50  to      17.50 

Linoleum per  sq.  yd 1.10 

per  yd 1.75 

Inlaid 2.35  to        2.75 

Kitchen  cabinet 40.00  to      73.00 

Carpet 8  x  10  ft.  grass  rug 12.50 

Wool  and  fibre 25.00  to      35.00 

Tapestry  Brussels 49.50 

Hammer  and  hatchet .50             1.25 

It  will  cost  less  to  equip  a  20  acre  farm  and  the  payments  will 
be  less,  but  the  first  year's  outlay  will  not  be  halved.  It  seems  there- 
fore that  a  farmer  ought  to  have  from  $3000  to  $5000  before  he  tries 
to  buy  a  farm  under  the  generous  terms  of  this  act. 

MONEY    A    FARM    LABORER    SHOULD    HAVE 

Farm  laborers  need  only  the  land  and  a  house  to  live  in.  The 
money  to  meet  payments  comes  from  wages,  hence,  the  only  capital 
needed  is  the  money  to  make  the  first  payment.  This  payment  on  the 
land  may  vary  from  $20  to  $50.  If  he  builds  a  house  with  the  Board 's 
help,  the  first  payment  will  be  40  per  cent  of  the  cost.  On  a  $1000 
house,  this  will  be  $400.  On  a  house  costing  $1500  it  will  be  $600.  A 
farm  laborer  should,  therefore,  have  somewhere  between  $20  and 
$1000.  The  Board  has  no  requirement.  The  capital  of  farm  laborers 
at  Durham  varied  from  $20  to  $4700.  Those  in  the  first  unit  at  Delhi 
varied  from  $20  to  $2800. 

FARMS   FOR   EX-SERVICE    MEN 

One  of  the  duties  of  the  nation,  which  ought  not  be  neglected,  is 
to  provide  for  the  restoration  to  health  of  sick  and  injured  ex-service 
men  of  the  Great  War.  Some  of  these  must  have  life  in  the  open. 
Some  want  to  become  farmers.  Some  who  want  to  take  up  farm  life 
lack  experience.  California  needs  a  carefully  thought  out  plan  for 
doing,  worthily  and  without  waste,  whatever  is  needed  to  train  and 
restore  these  men  to  efficient  life  on  farms. 


Circular  221 


OWNING  FARMS   AND   RURAL   HOMES 


27 


When  the  first  unit  at  Delhi  was  thrown  open,  about  two  thirds 
of  the  applicants  were  ex-service  men  and  nearly  all  the  farms  went 
to  these  applicants.  What  has  happened  since  then  helps  to  show 
the  course  that  should  be  adopted  in  the  future.  The  ex-service  men 
who  are  well,  who  know  how  to  farm,  are  going  ahead  and  will  find 
this  act  a  great  help  to  success.  But  some  who  were  given  farms  were 
suffering  from  injuries  or  disease ;  some  lack  practical  knowledge  and 
skill.  They  find  it  hard  to  get  started  and  it  is  hard  at  Delhi  because 
it  is  not  easy  to  get  crops  started  on  its  sandy  soil.     Some  of  the  ex- 


Fig. 


-Farm  home,  Durham. 


service  men  who  are  not  practical  farmers  came  to  the  settlement 
because  they  looked  on  this  chance  to  buy  a  farm  as  a  reward  for 
services  and  sacrifices  in  the  war.  When  they  came  to  realize  how 
much  money  is  needed  to  convert  raw  land  into  productive  farms, 
how  many  risks  there  are  between  seeding  a  field  and  harvesting  a 
crop,  and  how  hard  a  farmer  and  his  wife  have  to  work  to  succeed, 
a  number  of  applicants  of  small  experience  decided  not  to  go  on. 
In  every  instance  this  was  the  right  course  to  follow.  The  oppor- 
tunities of  this  act,  generous  as  they  are,  will  not  enable  men  who 
lack  both  capital  and  experience  to  succeed. 

Rural  life  today  faces  this  condition.     The  man  who  owns  a  farm 
and  is  out  of  debt  is  better  off  than  ever  before  in  the  country's 


28  UNIVERSITY    OF    CALIFORNIA EXPERIMENT    STATION 

history  because  he  can  get  higher  prices  for  crops  or  higher  rent  for 
land.  But  the  man  who  has  to  go  in  debt  for  a  farm  and  for  part  of 
its  equipment  has  a  struggle  ahead  of  him  longer  and  harder  than  that 
of  the  farm  buyer  of  the  past.  Nicholson  well  says,  '  *  Farming  is  not 
an  affair  of  romance,  poetry,  or  pictures  but  a  business  exacting  and 
difficult."  The  brief  experience  with  soldier  settlement  at  Delhi 
shows  that  sick  and  injured  ex-service  men  need  more  help  and  a 
different  kind  of  help  to  that  which  can  be  given  under  any  Land 
Settlement  Act  framed  to  help  landless  men  own  farms  without  cost 
to  the  state. 

This  act  appeals  only  to  those  who  love  farming  as  a  mode  of 
life  and  who  are  willing  to  struggle  and  save  to  enjoy  landed  inde- 
pendence. It  helps  men  fitted  to  farm  and  who  want  to  farm  to 
become  farm  owners.  The  need  for  this  help  is  so  great  and  the 
benefits  reach  so  many  worthy  people  that  the  policy  of  the  act  should 
not  be  changed.  It  has  value  to  ex-service  men  who  would  rather 
farm  than  do  anything  else.  This  leaves  uncared  for  a  large  class  of 
deserving  ex-service  men  who  must  go  to  the  country  to  be  restored 
to  health  and  strength.  Many  of  these  must  take  up  farm  work  be- 
cause life  indoors  is  not  possible.  But  to  meet  their  needs,  something 
entirely  different  from  the  Land  Settlement  Act  must  be  provided. 
Men  who  are  sick  ought  not  to  be  subjected  to  the  anxiety  and  strain 
of  meeting  payments  on  land  or  doing  the  heavy  work  that  must  be 
done  in  developing  a  farm.  Something  like  the  practical  farm  schools 
of  Denmark  is  needed.  In  these  schools  the  land  is  divided  up  into 
farms  of  the  size  that  men  need  to  own.  There  would  be  gardens  of 
5  and  10  acres  and  farms  of  20  and  40  acres  and  these  farms  would 
be  working  examples  of  good  farm  practice.  They  could  be  leased  to 
ex-service  men  or  they  could  be  hired  to  cultivate  them  under  com- 
petent direction.  There  should  be  a  central  farm  with  a  mess  hall 
and  sleeping  quarters  and  physicians  and  nurses  so  that  the  training 
of  men  who  need  it  and  the  health  of  the  sick  could  all  be  properly 
looked  after.  Ex-service  men  suffering  from  shell  shock,  tuberculosis, 
or  wounds  can  get  out  of  this  life  what  they  would  fail  to  get  on  farms 
at  Durham  or  Delhi.  In  two  or  three  years,  many  of  them  would  be 
able  either  to  undertake  to  buy  farms  of  their  own  or  have  their  health 
so  restored  that  they  can  take  up  other  kinds  of  employment. 

This  feature  of  soldier  settlement  ought  to  be  handled  by  a  board 
entirely  apart  from  the  Land  Settlement  Board.  In  other  words, 
this  state  needs  two  settlement  agencies,  each  one  doing  a  definite  work 
rather  than  attempting  to  have  one  makeshift  for  securing  two  entirely 
different  ends. 


STATION  PUBLICATIONS   AVAILABLE   FOR  FREE   DISTRIBUTION 


BULLETINS 


No.  No. 

168.  Observations  on  Some  Vine  Diseases  in  285. 

Sonoma  County.  286. 

169.  Tolerance  of  the  Sugar  Beet  for  Alkali.  288. 
185.  Report  of  Progress  in  Cereal  Investiga- 
tions. 290. 

208.  The  Late  Blight  of  Celery. 

250.  The  Loquat.  297. 

251.  Utilization  of  the  Nitrogen  and  Organic  298. 

Matter    in    Septic    and    Imhoff    Tank  299. 

Sludges.  300. 

252.  Deterioration  of  Lumber.  301. 

253.  Irrigation    and    Soil    Conditions    in    the 

Sierra  Nevada  Foothills,  California.  302. 
257.  New  Dosage  Tables. 

261.  Melaxuma  of  the  Walnut,  "  Juglans  regia."  303. 

262.  Citrus    Diseases    of    Florida    and    Cuba  304. 

Compared  with  Those  of  California. 

263.  Size  Grades  for  Ripe  Olives.  308. 

266.  A  Spotting  of  Citrus  Fruits  Due  to  the 

Action  of  Oil  Liberated  from  the  Rind. 

267.  Experiments  with  Stocks  for  Citrus.  309. 

268.  Growing  and  Grafting  Olive  Seedlings. 

270.  A   Comparison  of  Annual  Cropping,   Bi-  310. 

ennial   Cropping,   and   Green   Manures  311. 

on  the  Yield  of  Wheat.  312. 

271.  Feeding  Dairy  Calves  in  California.  313. 

272.  Commercial  Fertilizers.  314. 

273.  Preliminary    Report    on    Kearney    Vine-  316.- 

yard  Experimental  Drain.  317. 

274.  The  Common  Honey  Bee  as  an  Agent  in  318. 

Prune  Polination.  319. 

275.  The  Cultivation   of  Belladonna  in  Cali-  320. 

fornia.  321. 

276.  The  Pomegranate.  322. 

277.  Sudan  Grass.  323. 

278.  Grain  Sorghums. 

279.  Irrigation  of  Rice  in  California.  324. 

280.  Irrigation   of  Alfalfa  in  the   Sacramento 

Valley.  325. 

282.  Trials  with   California  Silage   Crops   for 

Dairy  Cows. 

283.  The  Olive  Insects  of  California. 


The  Milch  Goat  in  California. 

Commercial  Fertilizers. 

Potash  from  Tule  and  the  Fertilizer 
Value  of  Certain  Marsh  Plants. 

The  June  Drop  of  Washington  Navel 
Oranges. 

The  Almond  in  California. 

Seedless  Raisin  Grapes. 

The  Use  of  Lumber  on  California  Farms. 

Commercial  Fertilizers. 

California  State  Dairy  Cow  Competition, 
1916-18. 

Control  of  Ground  Squirrels  by  the 
Fumigation  Method. 

Grape  Syrup. 

A  Study  on  the  Effects  of  Freezes  on 
Citrus  in  California. 

I.  Fumigation  with  Liquid  Hydrocianic 
Acid.  II.  Physical  and  Chemical  Pro- 
perties of  Liquid  Hydrocianic  Acid. 

I.  The  Carob  in  California.  II.  Nutri- 
tive Value  of  the  Carob  Bean. 

Plum  Pollination. 

Investigations  with  Milking  Machines. 

Mariout  Barley. 

Pruning  Yound  Deciduous  Fruit  Trees. 

Cow-Testing  Associations  in  California. 

The  Kaki  or  Oriental  Persimmon. 

Selections  of  Stocks  in  Citrus  Propagation. 

The  Effects  of  Alkali  on  Citrus  Trees. 

Caprifigs  and  Caprification. 

Control  of  the  Coyote  in  California. 

Commercial  Production  of  Grape  Syrup. 

The  Evaporation  of  Grapes. 

Heavy  vs.  Light  Grain  Feeding  for  Dairy 
Cows. 

Storage  of  Perishable  Fruit  at  Freezing 
Temperatures. 

Rice  Irrigation  Measurements  and  Ex- 
periments in  Sacramento  Valley,  1914- 
1919. 


No. 
65. 
70. 

76. 
82. 

87. 
109. 


111. 

113. 
114. 
115. 
117. 

124. 
126. 
127. 
128. 
129. 
130. 
131. 
133. 
135. 
136. 
137. 
138. 
139. 


CIRCULARS 
No. 
140. 


The  California  Insecticide  Law. 
Observations    on    the    Status     of    Corn 

Growing  in  California. 

Hot  Room  Callusing.  143, 
The      Common     Ground      Squirrels      of 

California.  144 

Alfalfa.  147, 

Community  or  Local  Extension  Work  by  148 

the  High  School  Agricultural  Depart-  152, 

ment. 

The  use  of  Lime  and  Gypsum  on  California  153, 

Soils. 

Correspondence  Courses  in  Agriculture.  154, 
Increasing  the  Duty  of  Water. 

Grafting  Vinifera  Vineyards.  155, 

The  Selection  and  Cost  of  a  Small  Pump-  156, 

ing  Plant.  157, 

Alfalfa  Silage  for  Fattening  Steers.  158, 

Spraying  for  the  Grape  Leaf  Hopper.  159, 

House  Fumigation.  160, 

Insecticide  Formulas.  164, 

The  Control  of  Citrus  Insects.  165, 
Cabbage  Growing  in  California. 

Spraying  for  Control  of  Walnut  Aphis.  167. 

County  Farm  Adviser.  168. 
Official  Tests  of  Dairy  Cows. 

Melilotus  Indica.  169. 

Wood  Decay  in  Orchard  Trees.  170. 
The  Silo  in  California  Agriculture. 

The  Generation  of  Hydrocyanic  Acid  Gas  172. 

in  Fumigation  by  Portable  Machines.  173. 


The  Practical  Application  of  Improved 
Methods  of  Fermentation  in  California 
Wineries  during  1913  and  1914. 

Control  of  Grasshoppers  in  Imperial 
Valley. 

Oidium  or  Powdery  Mildew  of  the  Vine. 

Tomato  Growing  in  California. 

"Lungworms". 

Some  Observations  on  the  Bulk  Handling 
of  Grain  in  California. 

Announcement  of  the  California  State 
Dairy  Cow  Competition,  1916-18. 

Irrigation  Practice  in  Growing  Small 
Fruits  in  California. 

Bovine  Tuberculosis. 

How  to  Operate  an  Incubator. 

Control  of  the  Pear  Scab. 

Home  and  Farm  Canning. 

Agriculture  in  the  Imperial  Valley. 

Lettuce  Growing  in  California. 

Small  Fruit  Culture  in  California. 

Fundamentals  of  Sugar  Beet  Culture 
under  California  Conditions. 

Feeding  Stuffs  of  Minor  Importance. 

Spraying  for  the  Control  of  Wild  Morning- 
Glory  within  the  Fog  Belt. 

The  1918  Grain  Crop. 

Fertilizing  California  Soils  for  the  1918 
Crop. 

Wheat  Culture. 

The  Construction  of  the  Wood-Hoop  Silo. 


CIRCULARS — Continued 


No. 

174.  Farm  Drainage  Methods. 

175.  Progress  Report  on  the   Marketing  and 

Distribution  of  Milk. 

176.  Hog  Cholera  Prevention  and  the  Serum 

Treatment. 

177.  Grain  Sorghums. 

178.  The  Packing  of  Apples  in  California. 

179.  Factors  of  Importance  in  Producing  Milk 

of  Low  Bacterial  Count. 

181.  Control  of  the  California  Ground  Squirrel. 

182.  Extending  the  Area  of  Irrigated  Wheat  in 

California  for  1918. 

183.  Infectious  Abortion  in  Cows. 

184.  A  Flock  of  Sheep  on  the  Farm. 

185.  Beekeeping  for  the  Fruit-grower  and  Small 

Rancher  or  Amateur. 

187.  Utilizing  the  Sorghums. 

188.  Lambing  Sheds. 

189.  Winter  Forage  Crops. 

190.  Agriculture  Clubs  in  California. 

191.  Pruning  the  Seedless  Grapes. 

193.  A  Study  of  Farm  Labor  in  California. 

195.  Revised  Compatibility  Chart  of  Insecti- 
cides and  Fungicides. 

197.  Suggestions  for  Increasing  Egg  Produc- 
tion in  a  Time  of  High-Feed  Prices. 


No. 

198.  Syrup  from  Sweet  Sorghum. 

201.  Helpful  Hints  to  Hog  Raisers. 

202.  County     Organization     for     Rural     Fire 

Control. 

203.  Peat  as  a  Manure  Substitute. 

204.  Handbook    of    Plant    Diseases   and    Pest 

Control. 

205.  Blackleg. 

206.  Jack  Cheese. 

207.  Neufchatel  Cheese. 

208.  Summary  of  the  Annual  Reports  of  the 

Farm  Advisors  of  California. 
210.  Suggestions  to  the  Settler  in  California. 

213.  Evaporators  for  Prune  Drying. 

214.  Seed    Treatment   for   the    Prevention    of 

Cereal  Smuts. 

215.  Feeding  Dairy  Cows  in  California. 

216.  Winter  Injury  or  Die-Back  of  the  Walnut. 

217.  Methods    for    Marketing    Vegetables    in 

California. 

218.  Advanced  Registry  Testing  of  Dairy  Cows. 

219.  The  Present  Status  of  Alkali. 

220.  Unfermented  Fruit  Juices. 

221.  How  California  is  Helping    People  Own 

Farms  and  Rural  Homes. 


